MANGALURU: Dakshina Kannada police on Friday launched a search for an eight-year-old boy, grandson of an industrialist, a day after he was kidnapped from Ujire, Belthangady, with abductors making a ransom demand for Rs 10 crore worth of bitcoins.
Police said this could be the first case of kidnapping for crypto-currency ransom from the district.
It is suspected that abductors are known to the industrialist’s family and bitcoin business going awry could be the trigger behind the incident. Police officers privy to investigations said that the abductors placed a demand for 100 bitcoins before downscaling it to 60.
District superintendent of police BM Laxmi Prasad told TOI the family has been doing cement and hardware business, and the boy’s father is part of a marketing network and was trading in bitcoins until recently.
Kidnappers in touch with kin on WhatsApp
Police said the boy was playing outside his house around 6.30pm when four persons picked him up and sped away in a car even as his grandfather saw the incident from a distance. His mother received a call from unidentified persons, reportedly from Hassan district, demanding 100 bitcoins as ransom.
The abductors are said to be in touch with the boy’s family through WhatsApp. Police sources claimed they insisted on digital payment of ransom and added that one person, who is constantly on the move, is said to be behind the incident. The SP said four teams have been fanned out. “It appears the abductors are travelling constantly on highways,” he said.